Fall Roundup: Oct. 11-16

Park Hill Volleyball
Park Hill Volleyball went 1-2 last week with their sole victory coming against North Kansas City in a three game series (25-23, 22-25, 25-21). The Trojans fell to Kearney (21-25, 18-25) and Winnetonka (16-25, 19-15). They wrap up the regular season this week and head into district play next Monday as a five seed with a rematch against four seeded Oak Park who they faced in the second game of the season. Coach Lindsey Hood believes it will be a much closer match this time around. A win would mean a matchup with first seeded Kearney. They are 13-15-1 on the year.

"We feel like we are much better than what we were then and I'm sure Oak Park is the same way. Oak Park's Candy McCall and I are great friends and I hope we play them better than we did the first time," Hood said. "At this point it's survive and advance and that's what we hope to do for as long as we can."

Park Hill Girls Tennis
Although Lee's Summit West ended the Park Hill girls tennis team's streak of conference championships this season with a 7-2 victory earlier this year, the Trojans knew there was a chance they'd have an opportunity at redemption if they did their part in making their way to the state playoffs. Redemption was putting it lightly last weekend as Park Hill not only beat rival Park Hill South in the sectional round, but also went on to pull off what many consider an upset of Lee's Summit West in the quarterfinal round to advance to the Final Four of the Missouri Class 2 playoffs. Against Park Hill South, Suzanne Barth battled Michelle Royle to a 7-6, 6-3 victory while Kate Skorija and Brooke Barnard defeated Marie Gehrke and Mary Kate Reinhart 6-1, 7-6 to advance Park Hill past the Panthers 5-3.

In the quarterfinal round over the weekend as Barth cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over the Titans' number one singles player along with wins from Skorija, Barnard, and Sammy Young to lead Park Hill to a 5-2 victory over Lee's Summit West. Park Hill will travel to the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield this Thursday morning to take on Columbia Rock Bridge in the semi-final round at 9 a.m. where a win will put Park Hill in its first state team tennis title match in school history against either Parkway Central or Ladue Horton Watkins at 1 p.m.

Park Hill Boys Soccer
When the Park Hill soccer team upset traditional powerhouse Rockhurst, both teams knew the rematch this year would be something neither would took for granted. Their victory last week represented another test passed for what has been an unstoppable Trojan soccer team this year as Park Hill beat Rockhurst 3-1 on the backs of goals from Matt Russell, Ray Lee, and Joel Gordon. A weekend road trip to St. Louis resulted in much the same way with two wins against Parkway Central (4-0) and Parkway West (1-0) with goals from Lee, Parker Melott, David Zdovrak (2), and Sam Shepherd. Shane Van Hooser earned the shutout in both games. Park Hill is now an impressive 16-2-1 with only a handful of conference games remaining before district play begins on November 1. Although recently ranked sixth in the state, the defeat of fourth ranked Rockhurst should move the Trojans up the polls most likely behind three strong St. Louis schools.